Quitting Time

In politics, you’re never beaten until you give up. Governor Perdue is now officially beaten.   She proclaims she’ll keep fighting and she’s no lame duck. She apparently gave a rousing speech to the Sanford-Hunt-Frye dinner. Still, she’s laying down her sword and walking off the field of battle.   No doubt she feels beat…

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Want to win the Governor’s race? Learn social media.

With Governor Perdue’s announcement that she will not seek reelection the North Carolina political landscape has shuffled quickly. As of today, candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor (with Walter Dalton’s entry into the Governor’s race) have 107 days to raise money, reach voters, and win a statewide primary. This compressed schedule is unprecedented in North…

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Follow the Logic

Explaining that his chances of winning reelection look dim, this morning Democratic Congressman Brad Miller announced he will not run.   About an hour later Governor Beverly Perdue explained that, because the one thing she cares most about is schoolchildren (who, she added, are victims of Republican legislators cutting spending), she’s not running either.  …

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Media Locked

Gary is taking a break this week from consulting, blogging and politics. He invited several TAPsters to contribute blogs during his hiatus. Here’s one of them: Art Pope likely has never thought of himself as allied with the oft-bashed-as-liberal news media, but the mainstream media has succeeded in giving undeserved credibility to Pope’s squadron of…

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Lobbyists Rankings – A Sham?

Gary is taking a break this week from consulting, blogging and politics. He invited several TAPsters to contribute blogs during his hiatus. Here’s one of them:   One of the most distasteful and useless public policy efforts in North Carolina is underway,  and hardly anyone knows it.   The NC Center for Public Policy Research…

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How Bev Wins

A supporter of Governor Perdue makes this strong and succinct case for her tax proposal:   “It could work out for her. She won’t get it unless there’s a groundswell of the public against our per child expenditure being 49th in the nation. If that happens she wins in a walk. If the legislature shoots…

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Knightdale Builds a Bridge

Over in Knightdale they’re building a million dollar footbridge over the Neuse River so residents can walk or jog or cycle down the Neuse River Greenway Trail, meandering through what they call a ‘wilderness area.’ Even better, if you’re from Knightdale, the million dollar bridge is free because Washington and state government are paying for…

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Bev Is Right

Give Governor Perdue credit: whether it’s good politics or not, she’s doing the right thing on the sales tax.   Unless, of course, you believe it’s right for North Carolina to be 49th in the country in education spending. And some people clearly do. That’s the crowd that wants to further defund the schools, so…

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Sinking Sensation

A TAPster sees a connection between strange events.   First, “the Dean Dome wine and cheesers booed Governor Perdue last week. That disruption in the universe apparently poisoned the UNC basketball team, which played one of its worst games in history at Florida State. The Tar Heels’ spot-on imitation of a junior high team prompted…

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Get Over Art Pope

A true-blue progressive Democrat vents – and sums up my own reaction to the jihad against Art (“I Am Not an Heir”) Pope:   “I’m over all the finger pointing at Art Pope. I don’t know him or agree with him on just about anything. However, I don’t think what he is doing is illegal…

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